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Tom Dodds on transport matters »If you've listened to the radio or watched any of the rolling TV news channels in the last year or so, you will probably have come across Journal deputy editor Peter Montellier.
The broadcast media call on Peter whenever they want someone to talk about Northern Rock because (a) he's pretty good at it (b) their researchers don't always try that hard to find talking heads and (c) the Rock's own staff aren't so keen.
The Rock seems to have had a policy of keeping its head down ever since news of their troubles broke and I'm sure they have their reasons. (For what it's worth, I think they've been far too quiet and allowed a lot of the national papers - probably with input from the Rock's competitors - to dictate the news agenda, but there you go).
It's been often tricky for The Journal to know what stance to take over Northern Rock. As a local paper, we decided early on that it was important for us to act as a cheerleader for the Rock in terms of the quality employment it provides in the North East and the good work done by its charitable arm, the Northern Rock Foundation.
That doesn't mean that we won't criticise it when it's right to do so, and we've always given a voice to dissenting voices, whether they're shareholders, unions or politicians.
As such, I'd imagine that you'd continue to see Monty on the telly and hear him on the radio for many months to come, but I can't help sometimes feeling that it should be someone from the Rock doing the job of fighting its own corner.
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